What can I say, I love to read… I am surrounded by books. I have books that I have read, books that I am reading, books that I am going to read and books that I loved so much the first time I am sure I will want to read again.

Growing up in a small town in Michigan I didn’t have alot of options for bookstores. There was one tiny bookstore and it didn’t really carry alot of variety of books, it did carry alot of books on the area of Michigan I grew up in. You could order books there and within a couple of weeks your book would arrive.

All through school I loved when we could go to the library to check out a book. Even back then I was a pretty odd reader. I can remember in middle school having to do a book reports and I would check out the longest books I could find for my reports. The teacher would always ask me “Are you sure you can finish this book in time?” and I would always respond “Absolutely” and I always did.

These days my reading tastes vary greatly. I love to go to Barnes & Noble and just wander and look at all the shelves of books and try to get ideas on what I may want to read next. I love fiction, mysteries, romance, historical romance, young adult, some non fiction,  cookbooks and magazines.

When choosing books I tend to find that I really love to read trilogies. Nora Roberts writes alot of trilogies. I love how in the first book you are introduced to generally 3 pairs of characters and each book in the trilogy focus’s on one pair of the characters and you watch their relation develope as well as their relation to the other 2 sets of characters. Then the second book will focus on the next set of characters and the third book focus’s on the last set of characters and the conclusion of their obstacles.

I tend to love to follow the character and never want the author to finish the series. I enjoy getting to know a character in the first book and continue to watch them grow through their entire series. You get hooked and as soon as you finish a book you just cannot wait until the next comes out to see what they will do next. Series author’s that I enjoy are Catherine Coulter’s FBI thriller series, Catherine Coulter & J.T. Ellison’s Brit in the FBI thriller series, J.D. Robb’s In Death series, Sue Grafton’s Kinsey Milhone series, Marcia Mueler’s Sharon McCone series, & Charlaine Harris’s Aurora Teagarden series. There are many more that I enjoy, but those are a few that come to mind.

Even though I am no longer a young adult I still find myself drawn to the young adult genre. For me, I find that young adult books are easier reading and even though the characters go through their trials and many times have hardships in the end they generally have a happy ending. I began reading young adult books when my daughter was younger and I thought I should be reading what she was wanting to read just in case she wanted to talk about the books with someone and also to see if the books were age appropriate. I wanted to be prepared for questions that she may have. What I found was that I really enjoyed many of the young adult books that she introduced me to. We read the Harry Potter series (I am not embarrassed to admit, she read them much faster than I did.), The Divergent series and Twilight to name a few. While I enjoyed some much more than others I was hooked. I still buy young adult books and still enjoy reading them. Lately I am drawn to Victoria Aveyard’s Red Queen series, Sarah J. Maas’s Throne Of Glass series, Veronica Roth’s new series Carve The Mark & The Fates Divide.

What may surprise many of you is that I love to read cookbooks. I love cookbooks that have beautiful photography and ones that not only talk about the food but tell a story also. The Pioneer Woman cookbooks are beautiful and Ree Drummond really is extremely funny. One of my newest favorites is Homestead Kitchen: Stories and Recipes from Our Hearth to Yours by Eivin and Eve Kilcher. Their book is beautiful and it makes me dream of Alaska. (That is a post for another time).

I hope to regularly post what I am reading now and what is on my next to read list. Maybe I can introduce you to some new authors or series from an author you already love. I am always looking for new author’s to try and would love for you all to leave them in the comment area after this post.